Owing to her multiple career paths, it can be said that the demise of Onyeka Onwenu, made public on Wednesday, will be mourned across the creative and media sectors, as well as among partisan politicians and women rights advocates.
She was in her melodious best, singing to the admiration of guests, including Peter Obi, at businesswoman Stella Okolie’s birthday party in Lagos on Tuesday, when she slumped. Reddington Multi-Specialist Hospital would shortly pronounce her dead.
Aged 72, Onwenu left her footprints in the sands of time. She was a veteran journalist and a writer. She was nicknamed ‘Elegant Stallion’ in the course of her broadcast journalism career. She was also a Nollywood actress and a socialite.
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COULD HAVE BEEN FELA’S WIFE
The Anambra State-born producer of ‘One Love’, ‘Ekwe’ and ‘Angels on Guard’, produced in honour of Chibok girl Leah Sharibu, she earned prestigious industry recognition, including the 2006 African Movie Academy Award for Best Actress in a supporting role, for her works.
In ‘Her Father’s Daughter’, her autobiography, she documented how Fella Anikulapo-Kuti proposed a marriage to her and how she declined his advances because how he kept a “harem of women — 27 wives — did not coincide with” her idea of love.
“While I wanted to see him, I had noticed that his Queens—the euphemism for his numerous dancer-wives—had been looking at me with scorn. They passed by often, whispering comments about me,” Onyeka wrote.
“They were downright hostile and quite obvious about it. I pointed this out to Fela and told him that I was a possessive lover and would not be able to cope as an appendage to his harem. Fela laughed. He seemed to enjoy the idea that the women were ‘fighting’ to keep his affection. He did not persist with the marriage proposal, however.”
COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED BY BUHARI/IDIAGBONShe first met Fela on Falolu Street in Surulere, Lagos. Fela invited her to his nightclub, but she turned it down. Nevertheless, she felt flattered by the gesture.
She met Fela again on her return from the United States in 1984. It was the year Fela was released from prison “for attempting to travel with his band for a gig in London with the sum of £1,600 for their hotel accommodation”.
Despite the natural intolerance of the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbaon military regime to dissenting views, Onyeka was interestingly an exception.
She wrote, “Carrying any amount of foreign currency was against one of the many decrees promulgated by the Buhari/Idiagbon military junta. Meanwhile, just days later, a certain traditional ruler was allowed into the country with 53 suitcases, allegedly stuffed with the currency. The implications were many and I made these known in an opinion piece which was published in the Vanguard newspapers.
“In hindsight, I realised that the government could have had me arrested for being so critical. It was not a tolerant regime at all. I do recall, however, that Brigadier General Idiagbon, the second-in-command, had commented that the government would accept criticism from people like Onyeka Onwenu because ‘that woman loves Nigeria’.
I was touched and I longed to meet him but never did. His premature death in 1999 was a shock to me.
“In any case, after Fela was released from prison he sent a mutual friend, the journalist Onuorah Udenwa who is now a US-based pastor, to bring me to his club. I thought that he probably wanted to thank me for speaking up for him, but that was not it.
“He never even mentioned the article I had written in solidarity with him. Fela wanted to marry me, and I was flattered. I reminded him of the first time we met at Falolu Street and his invitation to visit his club. I thanked him for the honour of wanting me to become his consort, but I turned him down all the same.”
‘BURY ME QUIETLY‘
Onwenu wrote a commentary on the flamboyant burial of Obi Cubana’s mother’s burial in 2021. While maintaining that she was not intolerant to how people chose to organise burials, she said she did not want her burial to be a ground for the display of opulence even though her mother’s burial was elaborate.
“The point I make here is that there are different strokes for different folks, even within a family,” she wrote on Obi Cubana’s Lavish Burial of His Mother.
“I do not condemn anyone for how they mourn, with their hard-earned money but I am very uncomfortable with lavish display of wealth on any occasion, especially in a time of hardship and lack for most others. The burial of Obi Cubana’s mother was not only lavish, it was obscene and insensitive.
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“I told a friend just days before the most outrageous burial of Innyom Ezinne Uche Iyiegbu in Oba, Anambra State, in July that I had given my family instructions on how to bury me when my time comes.
“Do it quickly, quietly and privately. Celebrate me with prayers, lunch or dinner afterwards. Share some jokes about me and laugh. Mourn, yes, but not excessively. Make merriment and then go about your business. If my friends want to celebrate me, they should do so while I am alive, so that I can enjoy it with them, not when I am gone and have no idea about this. That is me, Onyeka Onwenu.”
PUBLIC SERVICE STINT
Onwenu also had a stint in public service.
As an artiste, she strongly protested against the failure of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) to pay her royalties for playing her songs without her consent in 2000.
Ben Murray-Brace, director-general of the NTA then, cut her off from her role as an employee of the NTA. To show her discontent, she observed a personal hunger-strike. However, the issue was later resolved through a dialogue.
Her two attempts at becoming the chairman of the Ideato North Local Government area of Imo State under the platform of the Peoples democratic Party (PDP) failed. Subsequently, she was offered governmental appointments.
Before her appointment by then-President Goodluck Jonathan as director-general of the National Centre for Women Development [NCWD] in 2013, she had been chairperson of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture by then-Governor Ikedi Ohakim.
She was honoured with a Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) title in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to national development.
FUNDRAISING FOR GANI FAWEHINMI
In a tribute to the music legend, Lanre Arogundade, a journalist, narrated on Facebook how Onwenu selflessly performed at a fundraising activity for Gani Fawehinwi in the 80s.
“It was about late 1989 and Justice Ligali Ayorinde had asked Chief Gani Fawehinmi to pay a hefty N6m as damages in a libel suit filed against him over his allegation that some security chiefs were responsible for the killing of Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine via a parcel bomb,” Arogundade wrote.
“The judgement jolted the human rights community. We were worried that non-payment could lead to the confiscation of the vast Gani legal chambers in the heart of the Anthony village.
“What to do? A campaign was launched to raise the money since no one was sure if there would be a judicial turnaround in favour of Gani. That event in front of the chambers attracted activists and class fighters across mass movements, including the trade unions, students’ unions, the legal profession, the entertainment world, etc.
“Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was there and he pledged that collection baskets would be placed at the Afrika Shrine as part of the initiative. Speech after speech…. then she showed up. Onyeka Onwenu’s presence suddenly animated the crowd. She spoke against Gani’s persecution. She pledged her support for the cause.
“She sang. We danced. She relieved our tension. She won hearts. She won my heart. She stole the show. Thank you, Onyeka. You were the elegant stallion that stood tall for justice and stood taller in drama and music. Adieu!”
The post OBITUARY: Bailed Gani, Could Have Been Jailed by Buhari, Could Have Been Fela’s Wife. Onyeka Onwenu’s Life appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.